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Juan Andrés Montenegro
(1936-1939) Spanish Democratic Republic (1968-1981) |branch = Spanish Revolutionary Army |battles = Spanish Civil War *Siege of Madrid *Andalusia Offensive |occupation = Revolutionary Politician Statesman |serviceyears = 1936-1981 |rank = Suboficial mayor |religion = }} Juan Andrés Montenegro (June 1st, 1901 - July 19th, 1981) was a Spanish and revolutionary, politician, and statesman who served as General Secretary of the Spanish Communist Party from 1968 until his death in 1981 and was the overall de-facto leader of the Spanish Democratic Republic. Born in Barcelona in Catalonia in June of 1901, Montenegro grew up in a poor peasant background and was forced to work in the city at the age f 13 to support this poor family, who were forced to live in the outskirts of the city. As Spain industrialized, he found himself forced to adapt to a changing world and would eventually join the Spanish Bolshevik Party when he was 20 years old in 1921. He advocated for a communist state in Spain and was declared a criminal by the Spanish government along with the communist party due to their opposition to the monarchy. Montenegro was forced into a life of crime, but joined the Spanish Revolutionary Army in 1936 after the monarchy was abolished and was replaced with the instead and he fought to preserve the republic along with the many other factions of the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War. He took part in the Siege of Madrid where he helped defend the city and served as one of the leading political officers of the Red Army. After he successfully defend the city and pushed out all Nationalist forces by 1938, Montenegro took part in the Andalusia Offensive where he and thousands of other republican soldiers stormed Nationalist territory in Andalusia, Southern Spain and split their territory in two. The war ended in 1939 in a Republican victory and the Spanish Democratic Republic was established after the Communist Party took over both the Republican factions, the military, and now the new central government. Montenegro entered into the realm of politics serving as a member of the Socialist Party of Catalonia, a regional branch of the Spanish Communist Party based in Catalonia, and eventually rose to the ranks where he served as First Secretary of the Socialist Party of Catalonia from 1951 until 1968 when he took over in a silent, bloodless coup. As General Secretary of the Spanish Communist Party, he sought to assert Spain as a regional power in Europe and as a formidable ally to the Soviet Union as an independent communist state free from the influence and pressure of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. To do this, Montenegro altered the party's ideology embracing a form of National Communism instead of the previous internationalist ideology based around his ideas from the September Thesis. He made Communist Spain a powerful player in the European stage due to its militaristic nature, but also increased censorship, intimidation of political opposition, and was known for his pacification programs such as the Spanish Reorganization Campaign, the Catalonia Anti-Revisionist Campaign, and the Basque Socialization Campaign. Montenegro also took lessons from of Romania and portrayed himself in a similar style to boot his popularity. He also greatly expanded the influence of the communist party and made it a donate force in all of Spanish politics, even if that meant complete takeovers and dissolution of many regional parliaments and governments that shifted in a direction away from the party's influence. Montenegro remained in power until 1981 when he died of a heart attack in his office in Madrid. He was given a state funeral and was buried in due to his Catholic beliefs. He remains a controversial figure in modern Spain as many within the public attribute the current levels of influence and respect for Spain to his policies and his regarded as an important figure in the modern day Communist Party of Spain. Critics however, have cited his harsh crackdowns on political opposition, discriminatory laws against religious minorities, mainly Protestants and Muslims, and for his harsh treatment of his native Catalan and Basque peoples during his "re-education" campaigns to reinforce the communist ideology into both respective regions. Early life and childhood Juan Andrés Montenegro was born on March 18, 1901 in Barcelona, Catalonia in the Kingdom of Spain. He grew up in a poor and neighborhood and lived in poverty for the entirety of his youth. At the age of 12, he was homeschooled by his mother while he worked in a textile shop to help support his struggling family. His father died when he turned 13 and he took over as the breadwinner of his household and ended up educating himself after his mother was injured in a workplace accident when he was 15 and he had a sister who was 3 at the time. For much of his youth, he found himself disillusioned with the royal government and monarchy for what he believed was "carless abandonment" by the Spanish monarchy and became supportive of a republican government after reading up on the history of the . Category:Individuals Category:Spanish Democratic Republic